Perilous
by Koyama Miyuki
Summary: "We're in...JAPAN!" A callout from a different universe, a completely new domain, the only way to survive is to find your way into the territory of high school detectives. A world where finding dead bodies is a daily routine; the dimension in which only one truth prevails. An unplanned visit, secrets, and feelings I never knew existed. Will the truth ever unleash?
1. Chapter 1

"The school's almost empty...," I muttered to none other than my best friend, nicknamed Ayaka. The students were departing one after the other and the school was gradually getting quieter and more vacant. I did favour peace, but I was fatigued from the weary school day using up my energy before I could manage to complete any assignments and I was losing hope in the school bus showing up before I get a sun stroke. There, of course, were other students waiting for the school bus to arrive, but out of my class, only Ayaka remained.

"Don't you find it weird that the co-ordinator hasn't spoken up about the absence of the school bus yet...?," surely, being the mystery lover and observant person she was, she couldn't help but wonder aloud intentionally to inform me of her thought process. Ayaka was always quite mature and more of a quick-thinker than I was, which arised rivalry between us at times. However, she wasn't exactly a person who would be so mature all the time. That trait had apparently belonged to me, and I didn't mind sporting it, really. It was better than my other side, which was much more clumsy, careless, irresponsible and immature and I tried to keep those wavering habits under control from time to time.

"Yeah... like they know something that we don't know of...," I stated, feeling my curiosity increasing to a detective-like extent on such a trivial and boring matter. It has always been like that anyway, and Ayaka was no different, who nodded in agreement to my statement.

"Leave it...it's a matter of minutes before they'll tell us to call our parents anyway...," I voiced reluctantly, my intentions swarming incoherently in my mind. Whether or not I was satisfied with that possibility, I didn't know. I only felt like throwing myself onto a bed and drowsing off for the rest of the day without having to worry about homework. In your dreams, Miyu..., I ruefully scoffed to myself. There's still the great assignment to be completed...along with others...

"I'm sick and tired of this... let's go and wait near the gates, it's no use...", Ayaka decided, not holding back from expressing her displeasure. "Wait a second," I spoke up, causing her to put her plan of exiting the school building on hold, and advanced to my younger sister, Kayo (again a nickname), who was standing among the procrastinating crowd of students huddled in front of the principal's office, occasionally sending a glance my way to confirm I was nearby. She could easily panick if I abruptly disappear without former notice, a trait she had apparently inherited from our overprotective mother, and given how empty the school had gotten, I could imagine her throwing a tantrum if she realizes I wasn't there. Still holding such a habit even though she turned eight not long ago...I didn't need a guess to know she'll have a hard time building up her self confidence. And behind that mask of a cute, shy and quiet student, there was a bossy, annoying and agressive attitude that only flamed out of that mask at home, which was quite a nuisance. From past experiences, Ayaka didn't really need to question my actions since she clearly knew what was going on.

As I arrived to the spot where she stood, Kayo immediately turned realizing my presence without me having to declare it, glancing at me questioningly, and I noted that a fragment of joy didn't abandon her features. The possibility of my father being already here to drive us home must have crossed her mind. I bent down a bit to the shorter individual (yet quite tall for her age), tiredly holding back a yawn.

"I'm gonna be at the gates, so tell me if the coordinator says anything. See ya!," I rushed the words out of my mouth, and before Kayo could fully comprehend what was going on, I had already skipped away to where Ayaka was and we headed for the gates. Kayo attempted to run after me, yelling what sounded like a faint 'Wait!' from where I currently was, but immediately decided against it. At least that's what I could tell with the absence of quick footsteps.

As we languidly dragged our feet after us, exiting the building, the sun's emphatic rays showered us with heat and fiercely striked my field of vision, causing me to continue my maneuver with grimacing eyes and noting to make sure to find a shadowy area. Ayaka spotted a tree at a position from which the gate could be easily seen, exactly what we needed to find out if the bus arrived, or if my father arrived in my case.. It was around time my mother would start growing concerned about my absence and I was ascertained she must've called the school by now. We sat under the flailing branches of the large tree, the amount of sunlight filtering through to us now kept to a minimum by that natural shield.

Ayaka absently let her bag slide down her shoulder beside her to the ground and I followed up with the same action, having seemingly forgotten about the weight on my shoulders due to my brain being occupied with my desire to return home. Then, the next thing I heard wasn't something I would say I expected, because as far as I remember, Ayaka was never excited for anything when she was tired, at one occasion refusing to solve a mystery riddle because she didn't feel like using her mind at the moment. And any ordinary person would do the same thing.

"How about we complete some of the chemistry homework right now? At least we could cut out some tasks off the list this way, right?," Ayaka suggested brightly, much to my bewilderment. Maybe chemistry was an exception...

I gave her a tired look that assured her I was going to procrastinate.

"At least it would be good for passing time, you know!," she argued, trying to convince me to do as she said, being the chemistry-obsessed person she was. Sure, it would be good for passing time. Not for me though... And both of us knew who would emerge victorious anyway. Such a suggestion meant that I had to be up for a challenge. Slight excitement possesing her demeanor only made it more obvious that she wanted a contest. Apparently, our chemistry teacher thought it would be great to give us a ten-pages worksheet full of chemical equations to be completed. And for Ayaka, this was all she needed to for her delight to escalate while she starts working on her assignments one after the other. I wasn't exactly good with chemical symbols... "But you're not quite good with chemical equations so now if you get stuck somewhere I could help out, right~," she chimed gleefully, pointing out my weakness directly without hesitation and waiting for my reaction. I let another sigh escape me as I turned to my bag, shuffling through its contents for the chemistry worksheet. I was too exhausted to continue the argument, and I knew if I told her my reason for not saying any further protests, she would call it an excuse. I found the thick stack of papers and cautiously took it out to avoid getting it folded and took out a pen, positioning the objects on my lap. Ayaka was still rummaging through the books for the worksheet but a broad smirk still reigned over her tired facade. Taking out the sheet, she placed it on her lap happily, twirling a pen between her fingers. Her bag, which wasn't placed in a proper position to be prevented from falling, tumbled down vomiting all of it's contents onto the floor: her school books. Groaning, Ayaka handed me her worksheet and pen, collecting her books to put them back into place. Hiding my amusement, I discarded the worksheets somewhere beside me and went to help her. Chemistry really did hypnotize her mind..

Just as I thought we were done with putting back the spilled books into their places, I spotted a book sprawled over the tree trunk and I took a few moments scrutinizing it, because if you want my opinion, school books weren't supposed to have an illustration of a shrunken detective behind over-sized glasses. And I already knew it wasn't one anyway. The sight of the manga volume of Detective Conan made me unconsciously draw up a wide grin that I only preserved for the times when I'm reading a manga or fanfiction and the characters are too cool to have me keeping an unchanging face. I carefully picked up what any Detective Conan fan like me would call a treasure and turned to Ayaka.

"How did you manage to get the manga volume?!" I exclaimed in both awe and shock, no longer that lazy to use my energy for speaking. Loudly, no less. Ayaka snickered at my perplexed expression blithesomely.

"Hi-mi-tsu~,"she chimed, raising her index finger to her lips and winking. I sighed in defeat, irritated at her antics and wishing I would one day acquire a manga volume of my favourite anime. I handed it over to her and got up but just as I was about to go back to were I sat before, I caught a glimpse of something sparkling at the corner of my eye. I then swivelled my head to the tree trunk and stared down at where the shiny object was lying down. Ayaka was eying me questioningly as I bent down and took a closer look at the object. It was a palm-sized gem that had a faint glow and had a magnificent hue; a mixture of azure blue, bright green, lilac, and some red. I picked it up from it's position resting against the tree trunk and recalled that this was the same place where the manga volume fell from Ayaka's bag. I turned to Ayaka who was still confused and showed her the gem.

"...What's that...?," she asked uncertainly, gazing at the glowing object in awe.

"I'm not sure myself...a gem?" I looked back at the gem and the hue seemed to be flowing, the different shades and colours floating inside the gem and the glow they emitted following them.

"Umm... can I see that for a second? ," Ayaka asked and I handed her the gem. She continued staring at it for a while before finally speaking up.

"Who would've left that here?," she wondered aloud and I shrugged.

"No idea."

"Well... we should probably give that to the lost and found...," Ayaka suggested though from the way she said it, it seemed like I wasn't the only one who had an odd feeling about this gem and the way it was glowing. But right at that moment, the gem's glow became stronger, taking over our surroundings. I winced but later shut my eyes tightly to protect it from the blinding light. The last thought that went through my mind was 'This is no ordinary gem..' before I felt consciousness betray my body...

* * *

The sounds of cars moving and the chatter of a lively street where the first to rush in to my ears. Languidly forcing my eyes to part, I blinked a few times, clearing my vision. Yet even after my field of view no longer blurred, I couldn't help but blink. And blink again. I was seated in what seemed like a bench in a park. I raked through my memory trying to remember anything that could give me any leads. Right..., I recalled. The gem...school...what?!

I stared at my surroundings in disbelief. How the hell did I get here?!

I whipped my head over my shoulders to get a full image of the place but stopped when I noticed another individual seated beside me. Blinking confusedly, I gazed at a foreign-looking blue-eyed blonde who held the same expression as mine. An expression of confusion.

"...do I know you...?," I inquired quietly, my curiosity spiraling beyond control as a sense of familiarity struck me. Wait...did I just speak in Japanese?! Moron...she obviously won't understand. I was still a bit amused though. Maybe I was THAT attached to the language of The Land Of The Rising Sun.

"...did we meet before?," she asked in return, and much to my surprise, she also spoke in Japanese. She abruptly stopped and her eyes widened in slight shock. Don't tell me she's... blue eyes and blonde wavy hair...that eerily reminded me with an OC named Kotegawa Ayaka whom Ayaka had suggested to add to my fanfiction... Oh. My. God. My instincts told me there was something odd going on...

"...Miyuki?," she mumbled tentatively, gazing at me warily. I didn't know how on earth this could be possible, but the only believable conclusion that made its presence upon my cognizance was that she was Ayaka. Otherwise there was no way she would know my Japanese name.

"Ayaka?," I called out skeptically, testing for a reaction. Testing and reaction... Look at me speaking in chemical terms. Was it contagious?

"What is going on?," Ayaka- or at least whom I thought she was- asked, though it was crystal clear that none of us had an answer in store. We both gazed at the park ambiguously, trying to find out our current location. It wasn't like any normal park, there were no swings or kids circling the area with endless energy,chasing after each other. Most of the people around us were young couples... a public park? I wasn't sure. I let out an annihilated sigh and slowly rested my head backwards to stare up at the wide sky, but, catching a glimpse of something red, I immediately whopped my head forwards to see what it was...

"The Tokyo Tower..."

But someone had already answered my question...


	2. Chapter 2

Staring at the area ahead, unable to take my eyes off the scenery that lies in front, with feelings that are to be described as a mixture of terror and puzzlement.

Thoroughly portraying a red and white version of France's Iron Lady, there stood the gigantic figure of the Tokyo Tower, perking above the trees condescendingly, getting it's daily share of awestruck looks and pictures taken in admiration of the enduring masterpiece of the eastern nation. We remained in silence, ogling at the tower as if it was a freed monster. The liveliness of the park wasn't on par with us for time has seemingly stopped in our minds, although the birds in motion around us chirped as happily as it ever did, flapping their wings about, stretching them across the wide sky.

I knew one of us had to break it off soon, but after waiting for Ayaka to do so, for what seemed like ages, I couldn't let the silence lengthen any longer.

"We're in...,"I tranquilly breathed…..

"JAPAN?!,"

We divulged out, letting our mingled feelings of excitement and shock, succumb from our expressions to our statements allowing each other a look of exhilaration. Once we took notice of our united shout out, an occurrence that wasn't rare, considering the fact that we are normally synchronized, we uttered no word, although usually such incident would be followed by soft chuckles.

Ayaka slowly elevated her hand and forcefully pinched my cheek. Wincing in pain, I lift my own, and do the same. She grimaced in return and glared at me begrudgingly.

"That hurts, you know!" she yelped.

"That's my line," I sardonically responded, rolling my eyes at her while I raised a hand to stroke my cheek, with an unusual sensation coming from my hand. I glanced at my other hand lying on the bench beside me and continued to survey it for a long span of time, my eyes trailing up from an unusual black fingerless glove that covered my palm to the eerily familiar light green long-sleeved jacket.

Long with time, the hand formerly raised up to my cheek has been slowly lowered as I gawked at my new attire in shudder. Underneath the green jacket was a lilac T-shirt paired with jean capris and combat boots. I was fine with the huge dose of oddities around me at the moment, but when I came to realize there was a white muffler with a yin yang sign wrapped around my neck, I was aggravated at how far my stupor isolated me from reality. There really was a lot to be mesmerized about today. Yet the feeling of familiarity I got from this outfit was getting more irksome..…

With retention to my companion, I averted an eye to Ayaka, who seemed to grasp what just happened with our outfits- yes, as it seems, she was no longer in her school uniform either.

The rest of our conversation was conquered by a wave of silence while we tried to force our tremor to ebb away, wanting to clear our minds. If there was anything we needed the most, it was to analyze what was going on.

I tried to forget about the succession of absurdities, busying my mind with my surroundings. But that, was yet another bad choice. Apparently, if I wasn't focused on myself at the moment, the rest of the people in the park had to be, in a rather unpleasant way.

People around us displayed their abashment, turning their earlier chatter to quiet hisses, low whispers, directing them all our way.

That was when I had realized, not only were we speaking in Japanese when we shouted that, but the sentence itself, was unfortunately understood by our unwanted audience. 'Quite an odd thing to say in the middle of a tourist attraction sight like this.'

If we had said that in English, we could've appeared as a couple of energetic foreigners dazzled by the beauty of that country.

The number of stares we were getting was beyond my expectations and I was growing nervous by the second. I wasn't really that good with crowds so to prevent my anxiety to escalate any further, I glued my eyes to my feet, trying to calm down. Now I know I was very bad at faking the role of someone who suddenly found their outfit a point of interest, but apparently, my abstraction had decided to add a spark of reality to my act.

Sure, I was too reckless to notice the silver necklace that hung below my muffler. I cupped it in my palm curiously, wondering….

It had a gem that seemed like an extraction of the one we've seen right before this happened, cut into a kite shape. The gem...this outfit...I cautiously went over the facts again and again until it snapped. My irises expanded as I studied my attire again, checking if my temporary theory was correct. I whirled my head to Ayaka's direction and unlike that time moments ago when the mood was heavy and pensive, I didn't smother my amused chuckle at our synchronization when I found out her conduct mirrored mine. With a similar necklace lying in her palm, she turned to me questioningly, but something about her expression told me she knew of something I had no clue of yet.

Flashing me a solemn look, she got up, whipping her head to every possible angle as if in search of something. I got to my feet, trying to figure out what she was searching for, but before I could part my lips to voice out my question, she dashed off and I immediately followed suit.

"Hey, Ayaka! Where are you going?," I bellowed, running after Ayaka, who was a meter ahead of me.

"To check-...," she paused. "Doesn't matter! Just follow me!"

"We're in Shiba Park, Minato, Japan! You don't know the area, do you?!," I shouted, dryly reminding the blonde that the place wasn't familiar to any of us.

"I'm looking for the way out. You know it?," Ayaka questioned with a hint of sarcasm at the end of her sentence, with my silence answering her. We finally made our way out of the park, stopping for a moment to regulate our breathing.

"And...? What do you have in mind?," I probed, letting out another wheeze as I straightened up.

"We need a shop window right now...I have to confirm something," Ayaka answered, straightening up too, scanning the area for a shop fitting the description. I surveyed the area keenly, urging my lungs to get an adequate supply of oxygen.

"Come on!," Ayaka called out, breaking off into another sprint and racing ahead of my still figure. I guess we'll have to do a lot of running today...

Mentally sighing, I broke into a hasty bolt, trailing behind my seemingly energetic friend.

I batted my eyelids once. Twice. As if repeating that action would change the picture before me, which was the inevitable truth. Excessive blinking would be usual now...

Through the shop window, a girl with pitch black hair streaming down her back but stopping a few inches above her elbow stared back at me with forest green eyes.

At first, I thought that the reflection wasn't of mine, rather of another. Yet facts did indicate that it was me, for the outfits were identical. Shock certainly reached my veins and with a mixture of anxiety and excitement emitting from those wide eyes of mine, my situation rendered me speechless.

I was pulled back to reality from the mutterings coming from the blonde standing right beside me, Ayaka. The surprising thing was-well not surprising anymore- that she was sputtering the same wordings that my subconscious recited.

"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth," we breathed in unison, breaking our own silence. Finally facing each other, a croaked grin softly traced our lips. So far our actions mirrored each other, but when I thought we were on the same train of thought, Ayaka's next sentence proved me wrong.

"Maybe my hypothesis isn't too far-fetched," she started, all traces of that previous grin abandoning her face.

"Hypothesis?," I questioned, contemplating my reflection. This appearance sure did seem familiar.

"Our appearances, Miyuki. Rings any bells?," she enquired with a prompting tone that awaited an answer. I turned to scrutinize her outfit for the first time after overlooking it numerous times.

She wore a light blue T-shirt that had one sleeve falling to her shoulder, revealing a thin-sleeved shirt with a darker tone of azure underneath. The rest of her outfit consisted of a pair of jeans and dark brown boots. She liked that style and asked me to draw- …

My pupils expanded, and dropping my jaws I realize,

"Those are the outfits I drew for the OCs...," I silently mumbled, still astonished.

"Exactly...I kept them inside the manga volume...," Ayaka glued her gaze to the gem. "You think...?"My eyes narrowed slightly in seriousness.

"Something's definitely odd about that gem...," I perceived thoughtfully, the air getting tense as detective-like aura occupied our surroundings, that aura too, was searching for reasons to this illogical situation….

"You know...all that's left for us is to be in Detective Conan World...," Ayaka purred, a smirk stretching across her face from ear to ear, the thought of that occurring being the criminal behind such a goofy expression.

"Yeah...," I muffled, letting out a quiet chuckle as I watched my new appearance through the glass window of the shop for what seemed like the millionth time before I registered another fact.

"Hey!"

Ayaka gave me a quizzical look and then gazed at her own reflection closely while I slightly quavered with excitement, a glint of light flickering in my eyes.

"No way... how didn't I notice this before?," Ayaka sustained blinking at the reflection before her.

"We're...anime characters...," I murmured, though knowing it was obvious to both of us. I was mostly admitting my disbelief rather than trying to inform her of the situation.

"Did someone hear my wish or what?," Ayaka tranquilly probed no one, knowing something like that couldn't possibly exist. Like these events are possible from a logical point of view...

"No... that's not all... the eyes. The only anime in which I've seen such eyes is...," Ayaka paused, which I guessed was to give the situation a more dramatic effect. A wide inerasable chortle settled upon my countenance and I was sure I looked like an idiot, but I didn't care. Dream or not... I had to enjoy this to the fullest.

"Detective Conan," I completed, wondering if my grin could've grown any wider with the phrase. Ayaka held a similar expression and turned to me with unguarded fangirliness reigning over her features.

"Wow...it finally happened!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah...but...," I stuttered, rummaging through my mind for the right words.

"We're here... in detective conan...different world ... what are we going to do?," I stated soon hushed, giving my companion some time to think.

Woah... I thought that if this could've ever happened, we'd spend more time being shocked and excited. Am I that mature? No... maybe it was just the fact that I wanted us to get away from here because we look like idiots to the people passing by..

"I seriously want to meet the characters...," Ayaka hankered. A moment later, she handcupped her chin and decided to give this some serious thinking.

"Well... for starters, we don't even have a place to stay at, do we?," I reminded, folding my arms like I had solved any bit of the problem by merely stating that. My eyes gyrated to scrutinize the area around me- people strolling by, going in and out of the different shops, the shop window we stood before being one of these; they laughed, talked...everything seemed to be going well for them.

Yet here I am, standing in a world I didn't belong to, where I was never supposed to be in. It was a different place that I wasn't alleged to be a part of in the first place- we were the odd ones here. I shook my head out of my deep yet pessimistic thoughts and relocated my attention on the matter at hand.

"Do we even have money?," Ayaka inquired, and suddenly I realized I had totally forgotten about that.

Ayaka checked her jeans' pockets then proceeded to search through the contents of the backpack dangling loosely from her shoulder, while I checked my bag and pockets for anything that would fall under that category.

I gasped rather in a surprised relief, when I found 1,000 yens lying inside my bag. How did these get in here?! No... be more grateful now. At least you're not poor, Miyu. My mind pictured a beggar version of my current appearance sitting in some corner of the street. I was about to giggle at the thought but immediately ceased my amusement. Damn... I was losing concentration again.

"Are you that happy about finding money? ," Ayaka finally spoke, rolling her eyes at me sarcastically while I noticed a grin that was unconsciously plastered on my face.

"Look what I found~," she chimed, raising the paper money and showing it to me merrily.

"Who's too happy about finding money now?," I asked mockingly, narrowing my eyes at her but still with a smirk marking my amusement.

"Oh, c'mon! It's not any money.. It's Japanese money!," Ayaka emphasized, too caught up in the fact that she finally came to a place she'd been dreaming to visit. Not that I wasn't either...

"So now we have money," Ayaka announced with slight accomplishment as if we've obtained it by ourselves.

"We still didn't solve the problem of finding a place to stay at...," I was about to let out another sigh, but instead, a long yawn interjected, almost splitting my jaw.

"Woah...Sera-san, I just found your long-lost relative," Ayaka beamed jokily, referring to my vigilance.

"Shut up," I retorted, ignoring her teasing.

"Speaking of Sera...," I started. "Any idea of the current timeline?"

"Now that's a good question...," there she goes again with her trademark line, silently voicing a 'hmm' as she drifts into thought. "How about we get a newspaper?," Ayaka suggested.

"Well... I suppose I could trust your memory now, right?," I scoffed, my tone awaiting her response.

Knowing how bad her memory was with Japanese names, normally I wouldn't really expect her to remember. Yet as far as Detective Conan is concerned, no one would beat her to it-noting that she watched the complete anime, although it's still ongoing, several times... Any normal human would recall incidents then.

As my train of thoughts processed through, we searched about in order to check for a newspaper, much enthusiastic.

As the blonde emerged out of the store with a thoughtful façade behind the newspaper, I straightened up from my pose lying against the wall and strolled over to her.

"And...any results?," I queried expectantly, arms folded. Ayaka's head perked up above the newspaper with a smirk that resembled Conan's when he figures out the identity of the culprit. I took that as a good sign, relief starting to overtake me.

"The last case was the Shiragami one... they didn't mention Kudou Shinichi's name and made it appear as if Hattori Heiji was the one who had solved it. Anyways...," she paused her rambling about redundant details.

"The next case is The Blue Spark of Hate."My heart's throbbing picked up it's pace, pounding expeditiously like an arrow that has been shot, speeding towards its target. We could meet the main characters any time soon...

My demeanor displayed another lopsided beam, perfectly mirrored by the shop's showcase and when it intruded my field of vision, I found that facade of mine greatly disturbing. A single thought about our fate always brought back that expression to my face, a rather idiotic grin. This was the last state I wanted the characters to see me in. My mind prodded over all the possibilities before my thoughts lead me to realize I could use this attire to my advantage. I raised up my muffler to partly cover my face, now consoled that my first impression could be secure.

Through the reflection, I could see Ayaka casting me a confused look so I immediately turned to her.

"Yeah...so... what happens in that case?," I queried nervously, being suddenly awoken out of my thoughts for... around the fourth or fifth time today. I honestly needed to work on my concentration….

"The detective boys go camping at the afternoon and a case occurs," Ayaka simply stated, shrugging with a small smile. The anime had a lot of cases with that format after all. I mentally complained about how many times these kids were allowed to go camping during the span of one year before a realization dawned on me.

"Say, Ayaka... could it be that this case was in the manga volume you got...?" my quizzical tone took the lead and she followed,

"Now that you mention it... it is...," Ayaka contemplated, thinking of all the conclusions this could lead to.

"And the manga fell over the gem, didn't it?," I added pryingly, my fingers already fastened around my chin.

"Yeah...I see what you're hinting at," Ayaka glared at the gem meditatively, a look to a main suspect in a murder case, expected to confess about his crime.

I, on the other hand, was still debating with my subconscious over whether I should be buying this or not. It seemed like a more sensible choice to believe my instincts though so I had to believe this conclusion temporarily, and Ayaka seemed to be already contented about that.

"You know.. we should be thankful that the Frankenstein novel didn't fall out of the bag instead of the manga volume. It could've been dangerous," Ayaka jested while her mind pictured a worst case scenario of that happening. I chuckled behind my muffler. It seems like our personalities aren't going to change in this world...yet.

"As if this world is any safer. I swear no one dies a natural death in here!"Ayaka stifled a giggle and smiled smugly, bemused at the declaration. It was true though...finding dead bodies is like any ordinary person's daily routine in this world.

"Well, let's make sure to avoid Kudou-kun then... But I doubt we'd do that anyway, " Ayaka admitted, knowing how far her Detective Conan fan-spirit could reach.

"Yeah...can't make such a promise either. You know how I am when it comes to the cool characters. It's just that you're the one that's more expressive when it comes down to it..." I shrugged with a sly chortle and I'm sure Ayaka got the message. I'm a huge fan of all the new characters around the 500s-700s episode span (not that I didn't like the main ones as much), going so far as to rewatch their appearances without completing the whole anime even once.

With that kind of nature, and given the current situation, I thought it'd be better to give her an alert beforehand since I knew I'd get myself involved in many cases. I'm getting accustomed to this earlier than expected...

I stretched sluggishly while Ayaka checked her watch- the only part of her outfit that had accompanied her from the real world.

"Hey, we still didn't find a place to stay at," I reminded tiredly, the idea of craving for a nap after getting an incompetent amount of sleep reintroducing itself upon my DC-occupied mind, but my thoughts went in a loop, once again, because if I wanted to sleep, I needed a place to stay at. Which lead me back to DC- my current reality.

"How about Kudou-kun's house, then? ," Ayaka suggested ardently, her lips wirling upwards completing the blithesome demeanor.

"K-Kudou's house?," I stuttered , repeating her words without the polite honorific in surprise.

"Do you have a crush on him or what?," Ayaka eyed me with a sheepish smirk. I scowled at her through half-lidded eyes, assured that she got it conveyed.

Of course, I'm not such an idiot to do so, because if I did, I'd have to face Ran's karate, and I knew it was good enough to turn me into a corpse. Not that I would decide against the idea of staying at the Kudou mansion though, but...

"But we don't know them, do we? Who would let a stranger live at their house? That chibi detective, no less," I quarreled, showing her that her so-called 'plan' is yet unfinished. The Kudou mansion... Mystery books... I surely wanted to stay there.

"Well, I'm not sure about the time gap between both cases, but if we're lucky enough and the case's today, then it's around time the detective boys are meeting at Agasa's to get ready for the camping trip. I've got an idea, no worries~," she poised with a wink, which from past experiences, I have learned was nothing but a former notice, rebuking me that my name is somewhere in that scheme.

"Fine...you know where Agasa's house is, right? ," I asked, just in case. With a limited supply of energy, I wasn't in a good state to pursue one particular house between an ocean of a similar thousands in a city like Beika.

"Ya. I saved it somewhere on my mobile..." her sentence haulted with a questioning tone as she examined her pockets, wondering if her mobile was still there, reminding me to wonder about the same thing.

I dug my gloved hands into my jacket pockets to search for the same item, but when my fingers were met by vacancy, my heart skipped a beat. I anxiously shifted to the pockets of my capris, urgently looking for the missing object. A fist-sized object met my palm and I adhered it, pulling it out of the world-isolated compartment to make sure it was what I searched for, even though I knew it was by the texture. As my eyes met the device resting in my palm, I finally let out a breath I hardly realized I've been holding.

My eyes swiveled back to Ayaka, who had her iPhone in hand, warily clicking some icons my angle didn't provide a view of and soon a sneer etched across her face, so void of any of her earlier anxiety about our condition and looking rather out of place for a human.

While my sight solely registered a frozen picture of the ominously sized smile, my mind didn't dare pay the rest of my unmoving muscles any heed to break them out of their vigilance and my senses were paralyzed by astonishment until a voice smoothly filtered through the silence.

"Beika City, 2nd District, 22nd street."A light flickered in her wide blue eyes and the smirk turned to a smaller beam of accomplishement. My shoulders unperturbed after being tensed thanks to her eerie facade and I quirked a small smile at the no longer creepy blonde. We were in Detective Conan World... If her grin could be that scary, then I'll be shrinking in a corner at the sight of Conan's...

"Mi-chan! I have a plan!"

Dragging my feet behind, I limply stood feet away from the group of children huddled in front of the Agasa residence. Raising my muffler to my face, I shoved my hands into my jacket pockets and drew in a lungful of oxygen. But even oxygen wasn't enough to calm the adrenaline rush I got when I cowered under the Kudou mansion, or when I caught a glimpse of the two shrunken teens standing nonchalantly behind the trio of first graders, expressing their displeasure at the absence of the bulky professor.

A chill trailed down my spine and Ayaka flashed me a concerned look but I shook my head reassuringly. Being the more confident one among us, she had gathered her equilibrium rather quickly despite her earlier apprehension when she saw the detective boys.

I inhaled one more time and put on the best poker face I could manage then nodded to Ayaka, signaling that I was ready. She rose her hand up and unfolded her pinky then her ring and middle fingers followed after in a count to three manner and she nodded at me with a face that ordered me to begin the plan.

"E-Ehh?! Shinobu-san isn't coming?!," I exclaimed loudly with faked shock. "Y-You're kidding aren't you?," my nervous stutter ironically made my act more natural.

"Yeah... she said she couldn't make it..." Ayaka apologetically stated, a hopeless look crossing her face. I muttered a curse I wasn't so angry in reality as to utter and pretended to be ticked off.

"But it's near the camping grounds, right? We can't get there with the bullet train and the bus would be quite crowded!," I complained, then internally wondered why I had to say all the 'shouty lines'. You'll have to pay for that later, Ayaka..

"Don't vent your anger on me now! It's not like it's my fault!," Ayaka protested irritably, glaring at me in a very realistic act.

"Should've never trusted Shinobu-san from the beginning...,"I retaliated quietly and suppressed a sigh, leaning against the wall. Sneakily, I wheeled my irises, casting a calculating gaze to the direction of the kids to see if we had already caught their attention, but before I could refocus my attention back to the fake display, a short brunette scurried up to us, and with her eyes glued to us in naive innocence, she called out in a chipper voice amidst her maneuver, the rest of the kids following suit.

"Hey, oneesan!"

That's when my mind snapped back to reality and I realized my journey has truly begun...


End file.
